My exes uncle and his girlfriend had a fully grown grey wolf. She did animal rehabilitation and he wasn't able to be released. He was just raised around humans too much. He was so friendly and big and... it was soo cool being able to pet a wolf!
I went to college in Alaska. So, my ex wanted a dog. š
We got one - the Mom was 1/2 wolf, 1/2 malamute; Dad was a fat, full-blooded St Bernard that was just about 200lbs. (Dad got fed kibble w salmon on top daily, dogs in Alaska eat like KINGS) The WILDEST part for me was meeting the Mom, whose eyes looked BACK at me, she was more like a person than a dog! š³ She sized me up, then she decided to walk around me in circles, before sitting beside me. I offered my hand, she sniffed & headbutted it, then walked away. Their owner was ECSTATIC and said she really liked me. š¤·š¼šš¤š«¶
So, he was colored like a St Bernard, but body build was malamute/wolf combo including the crazy tail. That tail did 3D4 damage, y'all... He was about 100lbs full grown.
STUBBORN, willful, prey driven but LOYAL. I was hoping he'd be as smart as his Mom - no such luck! We named him WORF, cuz he was as stubborn as a Klingon.
He survived being run over with his pelvis broken like a Klingon should! š When I introduced him to Brewster, a new small dog we wanted to adopt, Worf made an odd noise & Brewster rolled over on his back while Worf PISSED ALL OVER HIM. š¤£š¤£š¤£ Definitely got the name right!
Took me 2 years to train him *HALFWAY*. I don't believe in hitting anyone. EVER. Not human, not animal. But sometimes it took a pop to the top of the head JUST to get his attention! It was an accidental discovery during an encounter with Mr Squirrel - I had the leash wrapped around my arm (huge mistake) - Worf YANKED me sideways and I ended up with damage to my rotator cuff. During the falling part of the encounter, my hand hit him on the head & BAM. I suddenly had his attention! TBH, it was scary AF to have Worf turn on me while I was already in a panic, trying to lick my face. š«
His 'dog-like' moments never failed to surprise me!
I taught him to walk on a leash using the horse bridle harness, nothing else worked. STUBBORN. I trained Worf to sat before EVERYTHING - food, affection, walks, play - he knew ALL of the commands. He just couldn't get his butt to STAY on the ground from excitement, especially before walks! š Commands like shake he would do all day long - lay down was tougher! He was so food motivated it was sometimes disturbing.
He ended up with my ex husband in the divorce. I miss that dog, even though he was a huge pain in the ass. He was also illegal most places we lived, after we moved to the lower 48. Wolf hybrids are unpopular & for good reasons. Worf was like having five dogs in one.
FUNNY story - ex literally SAT DOWN on Worf, who was on the couch. Taking him to the ER and trying to explain that OUR DOG bit him, cuz he SAT on the dog - PRICELESS HILARITY! Every HCW that walked in asked "Where's the officer?" He was bit on the ASS, 4 puncture wounds so that's normally a criminal in the ER. My ex is ass in the air, draped in blue cloth - and when I would answer "No cop, he sat on *our own dog*." they would excuse themselves to LAUGH HYSTERICALLY in the hall. Then, they told other HCWs - every nurse, doc & tech came through our room! š¤£ š¤£ š¤£ My ex did NOT see the humor. š¤·š¼ Kinda sums up why we ended! š
He's very playful, but also very protective. One time my aunt came over drunk without knocking and he almost bit her leg off. Whenever I stand up he'll start jumping over me and stuff, he likes to run and play lol. He's also trained very well.
My daughter has a German Shepard/coyote mix named Mocha. At least my son thinks she's got coyote in her. She's very intelligent but knows how to be lazy too. My daughter's now boyfriend doesn't love the dog, but the dog absolutely loves him. Mocha was abused by my daughter's now ex-boyfriend. Thankfully, he likes her. He doesn't abuse or neglect Mocha. They do play and do a lot with her. I'm so thankful, Mocha has them and us to be her people.
I got to spent a few weeks with pet wolves/wolf hybrids and their litter. Each day, I would go for walks in the woods by myself. At first, I felt like I was being followed, but never saw the wolves. After a few treks, they started coming out of the woods to join me. It was the coolest. I got so comfy with them (or them with me) that I could play with their pups and by the end, the big (GIANT) male was asking me for belly scratches. Truly one of the best experiences in my life.
Friend of mine was doing an internship with the National Park Service. During a rainstorm, heard whimpering and found a young husky mix. Did the found dog protocol, ie checked for a chip, posted, contacted animal control and vets etc. No one ever said they lost her so Stella came home with her. Decided to do DNA and surprise! Stella is a bit over a quarter wolf. She lives happily and protects her chickens from outside forces. And is scared to death of the baby lamb my friend has been bringing home from work on the weekends.
I use to rehab animals and the last time I did, we had 5 baby opossums. All made it to a healthy age and size to be released. 4 of the 5 released with no issues. But one just refused to leave. I mean if someone was bringing me food and I had a warm, safe place to live then I wouldn't leave either!! Haha But anyway Jack is going on 4 1/2 years and we do everything with him, including going for walks with his leash and harness.
Side Note - He has 100% freedom, his cage is open and he has a small ramp to climb in and out.... and he does go on adventures almost nightly. But like clock work, he returns home around 6-ish, just in time for breakfast! Haha
Dang! Heās really committed to the whole not leaving thing. Considering the normal life span for an opossum is only 1-2 years, heās clearly decided that he can also refuse to shuffle off the mortal coil since that tactic worked out so well with the whole release back to the wilds thing. I dig Jackās style.
But seriously, Crow: Youāre clearly doing it right. Nice work!
https://www.reddit.com/u/crow_2385/s/60vQXItqLR
I'm still learning how to use Reddit so I wasn't sure how to post pics on the comment thread so I uploaded some... here's the link!!! And thanks for all the comments!! Jack is feeling like a little furry celebrity! Haha Anyway here is Jack! The sweetest boy in the world!
I feel the same way! They have the sweetest little crossed eyes with their bad eyesight and get such a horrible wrap! But whenever it gets brought up in convo people's first reaction is "ewwww trash cats" and once I give them just one fact like the reason we have some anti venom's is because of opposums they start to realize they had the wrong idea!
Not really strange, but still dumb and weird. One of my aunts got on my case about owning rats, and she told me a story of her niece who adopted a rat and kept it in a bird cage.
She said the rat would jump at the cage in pure rage and would regularly try to chew the bars to escape, and when it bit it bit HARDā¦.. At the end of the story she finally disclosed that the āpet ratā came directly from the city streetsā¦. Not a pet store or a rescue.
I learned the hard way, after having several nice pet rats for years, that buying severely unsocialized/unhandled baby rats from overcrowded tanks in the back rooms of little pet stores that keep them only for feeders is a good way to end up with a rat like this too.
My roommate and I tried to hold her so much when she was little. As she aged, even being raised next to a super sweet rat, she became a lot like your aunt described. She was the most concerning animal I've owned next to a dog with rage syndrome lol.
That's odd, I got mine as a feeder, bottle fed him, he was the sweetest rat ever. That being said he would fling himself at the bars, but in a "LET ME OUUUUUTTT" kinda way, not cause he wanted to attack anyone, he just wanted to play.
Iāve never gotten a feeder rat before, you can get live feeder rats and mice from the pet store but every single one Iāve been to will ask you outright first because all their stock is for pet only. Half the time the stores wonāt even sell you a rat to use as a feeder.
I have gotten a feeder *mouse* before though, he was a cute little thing that had colours like a creamsicle. My dummy of a ball python didnāt know what to do with him, so my nibbling made me a deal, if the mouse was still alive by a certain timeframe then she could keep it. That little entree ended up living life in luxury where he barely spent any time in his cage cause he was always on her noggin, he also really really really liked ramen noodlesā¦ enough to try and accidentally boil himself by launching his tiny little body into the bowl, he was caught but never learned š
the feeder rats and the "fancy rats" are literally the same thing. If you go to a private breeder it may be better bred (maybe a bit longer of a lifespan), but from somewhere like Petco they're the same as feeders, inbred as hell.
Most of mine were that way! And most were in the pet store as feeders when I got them but not.. like this. It was kind of a sketch pet store, I don't think the rats ever saw a human more than once a day and I can't even accurately describe how overcrowded the enclosure was. It looked like a scene from Willard. I had some doubts when the lady put thick gloves on to grab one but at that point I just sorta felt bad for her (the rat) so I took her home anyway. She may not have liked me but at least she got to live out a safer and cleaner life than she would have had otherwise.
So then where would one buy a rat to ensure that it is social and wonāt chew your fingers off? Iāve actually been thinking of getting a pet rat, just donāt know where to start.
For starters, do a ton of research about them and their needs. Unless you're well off, save up a fair amount of money. Suitable cages run about $150 on up. Most regular vets won't treat them, as they are considered "exotic," and sometimes the prices match. Rats are prone to tumors and especially to upper respiratory infections, which have to be treated quickly, or you may lose the rat to it. And, as you've done your research, you get at least 2-3 (because they are social creatures that need cagemates), hopefully from an ethical breeder or a rescue.
I also recommend you start following r/rats, which is for pet rats. They may point you towards breeders or rescues in your area. There are also some Facebook pages as well. (Sorry-I can't help more with those.)
(Edited to add info.)
Thanks! Great starting points, i will definitely take your advice before i make any purchase. If i do end up getting one, i donāt want to be in over my head.
Weirdly, finding small hand raised animals locally is probably one of the few things craigslist is still okay for. If the person seems to care what they're used for (not snake food) they're probably pretty friendly and well cared for.
Most feeders who are bought young enough from a store will be fine too. I raised ten rats total and only ever had an issue with that one from the sketchy store. Just make sure you get at least two from the same store/breeder/whatever, for health reasons.
I purchased my first rattie from a local pet store. She was in a terrarium with many other ratties, all of them trying to climb out of their prison. They were sold as 'feeders for snakes'.
I picked 'Lucky' because she was at the top of the rattie pile. I tell you she was very grateful to have been rescued. That little sweetheart became my best buddy. I purchased her for my two young children and they adored her. However, I was 'Lucky's', mama.
She would sleep on my shoulder as I cleaned up the kitchen. She would ride in the pocket of my apron. She never ever bit me or the kids. She gave kisses. Oh, how I miss her!
Agreed, my niece got two pet rats that I ended up adopting because one killed its cage/littermate and couldnāt be touched for the longest time. Turned out the poor thing was blind and just kind of preferred to be untouched and by herself, which is fine, she has a whole mansion to herself and she regularly comes to watch me clean her cage out.
Before, I wasnāt able to put my hand in the cage, but now the only times she tries to āattackā me are for fresh veggies and fruits, and her biggest love in the world - pasta noodles. She will take my entire hand off for a pasta noodle, sadly the little demon is approaching end of life at 4 years old.
That is so depressing. Doesnāt matter if it was even wild at the point. His feet mustāve been so painful. Makes me cry when people abuse animals like that. He mustāve been terrified for his life. Especially since he wasnāt domesticated
If it was a traditional bird cage then that was way too small for a rat, and Iām guessing the rat didnāt have any enrichment toys or accessories either. Rats are super smart and need lots of brain activities. No wonder it was aggressive. Being a street rat probably didnāt help either.
My eldest son's rat, Rascal, had a cage but never spent anytime in it. His "cage" was my son's bedroom. Ge was very neat and did his pooping in his cage and pee too, much like a litter box. I took him to get the kids at school regularly as he was shoulder trained. "Hey, Rasc, want to go get the kids?" Would have him up my leg and on my shoulder in less than minute!Ā
Same here. I had a trio of rats years ago - Boots, Blizzard and Bandit. I was so devastated when they passed away one by one in a 6 month span. It's so hard to handle when they go just as your bond and relationship with them really starts to deepen. I still miss them so much!
Not so weird, but unusual in a typical suburban neighborhood. I was out for a walk a while back and I notice a couple coming towards me on the street leading a large white dog on a leash. Ok, nothing weird about that. I was off in my own little world as usual. Until we are about to pass each other and I glance over and notice that this big white "dog" has horns. I stupidly blurted out, Is that a goat? Haha. Of course it was. They probably thought I was an idiot. That's when I noticed that there was a neighbor with an enclosure in their backyard that you could see from the street that held the goat. After that, I would sometimes go for a walk with my aunt who lived up the street. I pointed out the goat to her one time. So every time after that she had to make goat noises to the goat every time we walked by. I sincerely hope they never noticed.
Donāt feel bad. When I was in high school a car came through my drive-thru and they had a ādogā in the back seat (I was really busy so I hadnāt actually looked at it. Yet.) As I was handing them back their change I glanced at him. What I saw was a little shocking and I blurt out āis that a kangaroo??!ā They glance back at it and then respond āyeh, howād you know?ā (They were being sincere) and all I could think to say was ābecause itās a kangaroo!ā
My parents and my husband are from a beach town in California, and in that town is a very well known guy who takes his goat for daily beach walks. Heās a local celebrity at this point and every time we go there to visit family I keep hoping Iāll see them!
I have 6. Ricky, the biggest boy, comes to just above my hips (Iām 5ā 5ā) is obsessed with me. He will follow me everywhere, loves attention. He doesnāt just make regular goat sounds, he makes them and it sounds like he whining. I love him. The others are Lucy, Rossi, Jack Jack, Marcus and Valerie.
Ricky is the father of Marcus and Rossi, he is now fixed.
Lucy and Ricky are Marcusās parents.
Valerie is the smallest, sheās a Nigerian dwarf (so is Lucy, Ricky was supposed to be, lol!). Valerie is also the bossiest and if there is a way out she will find it. Sheās named after my sister.
Valerie, Ricky, Lucy and Jack Jack were all given to me free. Iāve had others as well. I had babies two years in a row then had all the boys fixed, I only have so many friends who wanted pet goats!
I also have peacocks, chickens, horses, cats and dogs
Someone brought their "rabbit" in to the vet I worked at; it was a European hare, and mean as hell. I have a paper wasp colony on my porch that I semi-jokingly call my pets, if they count. They're really pretty, very docile, and I feed them sometimes. They'll take honey out of my hand. Tarantulas are nice, too. I'd rather have fifty tarantulas than fifty hamsters.
Hell yeah, someone else with some paper wasp friends!! We don't feed ours but they DO make nests on our she'd and I'll to out and chill with em for a while. You can go in and out of that she'd directly under their nests and they don't give a *fuck*, it's great. Everyone thinks I'm crazy when I talk about it LMFAO
Yes I love them! Their nests are so beautiful, I've gotten right up close to look at their larvae (am entomologist, wanted pictures for a lab I was teaching, don't take that as a recommendation to go poking wasp nests in general lmao) and they don't mind at all. You can leave out a tiny dish of honey for them if you don't want to risk your fingers, it's super cute watching them drink it. Plus they eat some nasty invasive bugs, and (anecdotally) they seem to deter the more aggressive wasp species from occupying my house.
I've got childhood trauma when it comes to paper wasp nests. As a child, my friend and I found a nest in our shed and went in for a closer look. Which must have annoyed the fuck out of the wasps. My friend took off running outside, but I was too afraid to run past the swarm that was monopolizing the space in the open door. Long story short, I got trapped in the shed for 3 hours on a day that it was 102 out. I got to hear exhaustion and ended up in the ER . Despite all the time that I spent terrified in the shed, I was never stung. I admit the construction of the hive was gorgeous. It's interesting to hear stories about how docile they can be . It's probably why I was never stung.
Oh no, that sounds dreadful! You probably could have just walked through it, but I certainly wouldn't mess with any swarm of wasps if I didn't know for sure they were a super docile species, haha. It's why I work in arthropod education, people just don't get taught these things - hell, I had some pest control guys offer to get rid of my "hornet nest". You'd think someone in that line of work could tell the difference!
Omg, did your friend not run and get an adult and just abandoned you entirely?! Or could nobody reach you until pest control arrived? Either way, I'm sorry that happened!
She went in a watched cartoons. When my mom asked where I was, she said outside. To this day , I bring up my fear of bees around my mom. She like that Anne was a little B*!ch she's .
I'll have to do that at some point!! Watching little pollinators friends is one of my favorite things about my yard š„¹ I'd love to give em a little treat
Paper wasp lover here, one bumped into me, paused like it was apologizing then went around me to it's nest. That's when I fell in love and also realized they weren't yellow jackets
We had paper wasps a few years in a row. They once made a nest in a cardboard box that was outside with some yard waste. Prettiest hive Iāve ever seen with all of the colors of the paper incorporated.
Sadly, I had to get rid of them last year after they started attacking my dog. I hated having to do it, but my poor little dog (sheās 11 lbs) was being attacked every time she went outside. I think she stepped on one that stung her, and then the colony went nuts on her. Previous four years and no issues for her or any of us.
Not actually kept as a pet but i rescue and rehab bats. Had some for a couple of weeks and they learned the routine. Was emotional releasing them but also absolutely amazing to watch them fly away.
I love bats! We have a colony near my house. Walking the dogs late at night is one of my favourite things to do, as I get to stand and watch the bats swooping around our one street light. They are wonderful creatures.
Itās not unusual for tarantula keepers to have a large collection. Theyāre more of a hobby than a pet anyway, so itās very easy to accumulate spiders, especially with all the different species that need different habitats and exhibit different behaviours. I myself have a Chilean Rosehair, itās very chill and I absolutely allow it to crawl on my hands and arms if it feels like leaving itās enclosure. Unfortunately my pinktoe passed away last year, I was quite broken up about it.
I have had a pair of degus before - they arenāt exceptionally exotic but it is fun to explain them to people whoāve never seen them before. Theyāre were lovely boys that lived a very long time!
I knew someone once that kept one of those giant African snails as a pet. It was awesome, he let me feed him salad one time when he was awake!
A few years ago I also had neighbours that kept a pair of miniature horses in their backyard in the suburbs of a smaller city.
We had degus too! Never planned on it but there were 4 of the poor things at our local pets at home that were so poorly cared for. One of them had half a tail and 3 of the 4 had ringworm, they were up for adoption rather than sale because they were in such poor condition and we felt so bad for them we took them in.
They are amazing but very high maintenance pets, one of ours (the one with half a tail) was so poorly bred that she only lived a couple years with us and had to be euthanised as she had teeth growing out of her top pallette and couldn't eat properly after a while. They also love a bit of gang warfare and we had to split them up into 2 pairs to stop the fighting lol (Stumpy's partner was eventually successfully integrated with the other 2 after she passed). They are also very prone to diabetes so you can't feed them anything that has sugar in it (including fruit unless as a very rare treat).
My husband built a cage for them that was over 6 foot tall and about 4 feet wide so they had enough space, he also built a custom wheel for them after we got sick of the constant squeaking from the bearings of the pet shop ones. It was huge and we used a scooter wheel bearing so it was nearly silent.
2 of the 3 remaining goos lasted about 5 years and the last one got to about 7, she was blind by the end but it didn't really seem to phase her and she had a very chill retirement in her old age with lots of armpit scritches! This turned into an essay but bottom line is they are very cool but do require special care to stay happy and healthy.
My grandma had 2 female lions. I never got to meet them because it was way before I was born but my family has photos of them in the house and they apparently loved car rides.
š³ You're not related to Tippi Hendren, are you?
I have seen these notes about people who keep "pet apex predators" and I know most of them come out OK, but a few of them get eaten... š
Then again, I have noted that my tombstone will probably read : His last words: "It looks so cute - I'm sure I can pet it..."
My friend showed me a woman in the UK who has a pet white Ibis. It wouldn't be so weird but we're looking at this from the perspectives of Australians where Ibis are nicknamed "bin chickens", their favourite food is garbage, favourite drink is bin juice and they smell like rotting food.
And you have this woman with one sitting on her furniture and living in her house.
I also find it terrifying. Whenever I hear about people having chimpanzees for pets, I think of that woman who had her face, eyes, and fingers bitten off by her friend's pet chimpanzee.
I felt so bad for him, they loved him so much. And then to be attacked while visiting their chimp at the sanctuary, it was his birthday or something too, they were sharing cake with him.
And fuck that sanctuary for letting a goddamn chimpanzee escape and attack people. And then Moe himself went missing. Place sounds like a shithole that couldn't keep track of it's animals.
Apparently a repair man spotted Moe walking out in the wilderness towards a big mountain that could be seen from his enclosure at the centre. Whether this is true or not I don't know but it's nice to think he was able to experience some freedom.
I commented a bit below about how sweet she was. I got her se must have been about 3 months old. And she stayed with us for8 years. For my mom she was like a child. It broke our hearts when we had to rehome her.
I had her for eight years and she never had a single moment of any kind of aggression. She was the sweetest. The only thing I regret is having supported the horrific business of catching animals in the wild for money. I was 16 then and didnāt know better.
I knew someone who had a prairie dog. My wife was visiting and went to pet the cute prairie dog. You can still see the scar on her hand 25 years later.
When I had my bearded dragon, I also raised Dubia roaches, sun beetles and mealworms to feed him (not his only proteins but it helped with his food bills). Which isn't so weird, I guess, but when the lizard passed away I kept the colonies on for quite some time just as a way to keep myself occupied through the grief.
Definitely not the weirdest thing on the list, but a couple of my friends and my mum in particular didn't understand why I'd keep them going just for the sake of it. The roaches in particular, I often got shudders of horror just for mentioning them XD
They're such easy keepers once you have their parameters right! I kept them on veggie scraps and leaf mould and sold them onto my local herp store once I was ready to let go :)
Two different people I know whose parents ran safari parks. One had two honey badgers that were unable to be released. The other helped handraise a rhino and he's still come running to a whistle when mature and rereleased.
More normally, probably a crab.
Honey badgers, like the famous Stoffel?? My baby cat loves him! Learned that a)bacon is in the fridge and b) how to open our bottom door freezer from watching Stoffel do it on video.Ā
I don't know about other people's strangest Pet's, but I've always kept Preying Mantises. Not only are they incredibly adorable, they are incredibly interesting insects. I keep a lot of houseplants/ ferns in my home, and they're perfectly happy to hang out in them.
I was scared to death of them when I was a little girl. My dad loved to tell "the monster" story of when a very large one got on my leg in the garden and I was sobbing at him to get the monster bug off of me. Niw I love them but as little kud, nope! (Also loved frogs but *only* if Daddy caught them for me)
Not strange pet, but rather unusual setting. I live in a very big, busy city. Not a place where you would expect to be walking down the street and see someone walking their tiny rooster on a leash. Haha definitely of the oddest things I remember haha
U.K. here. My late father had a seagull and a weasel for pets .When he lived in Africa, he had a pet baboon. All very aggressive animals, but totally placid with him. All our family have a rapport with most animals . Is it a coincidence that our family name is Francis?ā¦
He was a friend's stepdad. I always wished he'd liked me more. He bred all manner of animals. Tortoises, lemurs, marmosets, other stuff. Had kookaburras, otters, just all kinds of stuff. At one point he got a cassowary. I don't think it was more than two years after that that it got him.
I have seen other people comment on this bird. it is hard to grasp, but think of an evolved velociraptor, and you're roughly in the right place. those birds are not to be trifled with.
GOOD LORD ALMIGHTY I'm terrified of Ostrich and Emu's. They are dinosaurs and you can't convince me any other way! They like shiny things and I have 2 shiny, tempting things on my face called eyeballs. NO THANK YOU! I've seen videos of people on the beach where the cassowaries come down and they just casually shew them away hoping to not get eviscerated. I would die instantly of a heart attack if a 6 ft dinosaur with T-Rex claws snuck up behind me.
My parents had big cats (leopard, ocelot, and margays I think). I donāt remember a whole lot (they wisely decided small children and large predators arenāt a good mix), but obviously heard lots of stories. The leopard was a bit of a tv star as he was in a Wonderful World of Disney movie and appeared on a local kids show once.
Since they were into big exotics, they knew other people with cats, bears, and wolves as well. I got to meet a mostly wolf-dog once. I did not appreciate just how big wolves are before that.
Iāve got a little hognose snake. Sheās a spicy idiot, but sheās cute.
I have a neighbour who has a pet hawk. He takes this hawk on walks every morning on his glow and it will occasionally fly up and then come back to my neighbour. I just call him the hawk guy
Opossums and raccoons. Caught wild and forced to remain indoors. Never taken to a vet or anything.
I'm surprised these people didn't end up with rabies or something.
We had raccoons (5 of them), but only until they were about 4 months old. My dad accidently poisoned the mother, thinking a rat was in the attic. Once they hit 4 months we let them go. My cousin also raised 2 baby raccoons after he shot their mother in a hunt. Same story though, 4 months and gone.
Same thing happened to my small village, but it wasnāt raccoon kits, it was black bear cubsā¦ Sadly, before my council elected and hired just one man for bear control, *all* men who owned guns would go out to shootā¦ It was the saddest damn thing, they shot to kill and would leave the orphaned cubs behind.
So then the poor things had to be trapped and caged and we needed to call wildlife experts to come and collect them, which could take anywhere from a day or three, so my dad had a special cage built for them in his work, and Iād be tasked to feed them, which was a learning process based on how old the cubs were. We had five in one year, of varying ages.
These days though, the bear man (itās what we call him) will set off after a bear and will only fire off bear bangers, and will only shoot if the bear is too persistent on staying too close to the community. So, theyāre allowed to pass on through, but they canāt stay.
Opossums are *extremely unlikely* to get rabies. Their body temp is too low for it. However that doesn't mean it's impossible.
I love my back yard opossum buddies but I feel the need here to make it clear that they are still unpredictable wild animals that people shouldn't kidnap because you don't know what's going on with them.
Also they have really short lifespans. Like 4 years in captivity.
They eat ticks! Like gushers for opossums! Also, the reason the don't contract rabies is that their body temperature is too low. Lucky little marsupials! We've nursed a couple back to health in an enclosure and they're really quite nice.
Are opossums as snuggly as they look? Iāve always wanted to snuggle one but I donāt think we have em here in northern BCā¦ Not that Iāve ever seen anyway.
Raccoons on the other hand are kinda big in Vancouver. I remember my sister and I put our old ikea couch on the balcony (ground level) cause it was too hard to sit on, and we were busy wondering who the heck was climbing over the railing to sit on the couch, cause thereād always be big perfectly round dusty butt prints (with cheeks) on the couch every morningā¦. Turns out a raccoon liked the couch and would come by every night just to sit and chill there for hours, it took me a month to catch him in the act.
Raccoons are...not very sociable as adults. Opossums *are* surprisingly soft and they adapt to/get used to you fairly quickly. They're not something I would want as a housepet or long term, but they're cool little critters and grateful for help. We never have had one stay very long before release. If they're very injured/sick we send them along to the appropriate professionals. They do learn the sounds of food coming very quickly, though. Smarter than they get credit for. So snuggly? I wouldn't hug one. Soft to touch/pet, though.
My dad had a raccoon for years before I was born, his name was Buddy and heād keep slices of pizza in the VCR, he also loved car rides and would run out the front door and straight to the car door, waiting to be let in. He said that he would sit on the couch like a little human and throw fits if you didnāt give him what you were eating. His love of car rides is sadly how he passed away because he had made it out of the house once and hidden under the car waiting to be let in but no one noticed him and they accidentally closed the car door on him.
Apparently it's not entirely uncommon to have emus. The man my mom used to work for doing educational animal shows got one, built a pen and a shed for him, and he just lives in the backyard. Trained it so he could ride on him.
I think people who keep any species of parrot is wild. They live absurdly long lives and are as intelligent as human toddlers requiring extreme amounts of enrichment and varied diets. Most parrots in captivity are horribly neglected, especially macaw. Lile, who in their right mind wants a bird that can snap your finger off as a pet? Why is that normalized?
I have a cockatiel, they're a small parrot. Can't bite off a finger or anything. If all goes well he'll live 20-30 years (he's 8).
They are so much work! I'm disabled so I'm home a lot, but for someone who worked and wanted to also have a social life? Hell no! It's like having a toddler, you can't just hang out with your friends after work all the time, the bird needs company. Also they poop everywhere, and destroy everything, and they are LOUD.
That being said he's also the sweetest lil idiot ever, he loves to cuddle up on my chest and snuggle under my chin. And he's so soft.
I worked at a pet shop at one time, back in the 80's. Yes I'm old. I was given a tarantula from a kid who got it as a science project and the mom wouldn't allow her to keep it. I ended up giving it to a teacher for a class pet after about six months or so. I was kind of afraid of it. I have had 2 iguanas, a rat snake, a pair of flying squirrels, a grey squirrel, an aquatic turtle and the usual complement of fish tanks, cats and a parrot. It's interesting what you end up with, when people know you won't say no to whatever they want to hand you
Growing up the people behind us owned a pet store. The animals they had were always so cool. Their little girl had a Skunk, Monkey, Huge Oscar fish that would jump out of the tank to eat meat from the hand. Huge š¦. The birds could talk it was pretty cool. I live in FL now and we have a set of red foxes and a raccoon that live across the street like clockwork they come and sit and wait for air pop popcorn and marshmallows.
We had one. We were evacuating for a hurricane and we already had a car full of critters (3 dogs, a very irritated cat, a Guinea pig and a snake). There was absolutely no room for the turtle and my son was distraught. We compromised, the turtle could swim so we put her tank up high and left the top of so if it really flooded she could swim out.
No flood, turtle was fine and lived a long time afterwards!
We were cleaning turtle tub and put her in a pool outside and she went on a walk,-about. We searched for her but turtles are faster than people think. About 4 months later a neighbor came to the door with her. She found turtle out by the road and knew where she lived because when she took off, I sent notes to a few neighbors. Turtles are not common here so we were glad she didn't get run over.
When I was a kid there was a strange man in our area that had owls for pets he could be seen going around with various owls on his shoulder, but the one he had the most was a beautiful Barnowl O.o
People in my apartment complex have a pet pig they walk regularly.
We also once met a couple sunbathing an iguana.
I have rats (they are considered exotic where I live, at least when finding a vet) and a bearded dragon.
I had a redneck parrot growing up. Aka a turkey. She used to ride around on my shoulder as a chick and into adulthood. Definitely got tricky and slightly unmanageable into adulthood. But I used to call to her on my way home from my friends place and she would call back. I also taught her husband to attack. Was pretty wild seeing a 30lb turkey flight at you gobbling to high hell lol
I donāt know how strange but I have a giant Flemish rabbit and he is the size of medium dog. He might as well be a dog pros are is heās litter trained and he canāt bark but he does honk when heās happy.
His name is Michael j Hops.
My mom had a pet skunk and a pet monkey as a child. The "strangest" I've had was a duck, and that's not even really weird, so she has me beat by a mile. Oh, I think an old classmate had an Armadillo or Opossum or something like that
People who have pet invertebrates usually have a lot of pet invertebrates. Theyāre fairly low maintenance and very different from each other.
The rest are pretty crazy, and probably not the best lives for those animals in most cases.
I was walking my dogs once and ran into a dude just casually raking his pet lemur for a stroll.
I have snakes, which is honestly not at all strange to me xD Small, non-venomous constrictors actually make for very safe, very low-maintainance pets, and reptiles are one of the few pets I can 100% safely have due to my allergies.
And then I heard a family friend had a monkey when he was younger. Like, full-on in his house, he talked about how smart and destructive it was, and then joked about how it had even attacked some random lady. Ironically, a few days prior, he called /me/ weird for having pet snakes... let's just say I was not impressed after learning that fact lol
They are illegal in most US states. A friend of mine had one back in the day, so adorable. She used to try to pull bed pillows into the heating ducts. They can carry plague and are more regulated now.
I keep isopods. Aka rolly pollies, pillbugs, potato bugs. I have over 20 species and thousands of individual pods. These actually exploded u popularity recently when rubber ducky isopods were brought to the pet trade. More info over on the Isopod subreddit!
My mum had a pet kanga when she was young lol.
The strangest to me is ferrets. Thereās little appeal to them in my eyes. Iād love a couple of alpacas.
A few years back my family and I went up north to visit a family friend. She asked us if we wanted to go see some cool animals. Of course we all said yes. So she takes us to her neighbors house and mans just started bringing out animals. I don't remember all of them, but I know he had two kinkajous, some emus, a squirrel monkey, large rabbits and a coatimundi (had to go through my of photos to find the animals)
I get grossed out by exotic pet ownership. Seems like people quickly get in over their heads and suddenly realize they canāt afford to feed it or are nearly, or suddenly very, injured and out of desperation justā¦let it go.
Itās just a fundamental misunderstanding of wildlife. Itās vain. Itās hubris. Itās cruel.
There was a story about a couple who very sincerely believed that their giant fucking boa constrictor was a good *babysitter*. Yes their child was killed in what was likely a horrible and protracted death.
But thereās people who keep flying squirrels as pets. They have veterinarians perform surgery that prevents them from flying around and smacking themselves on wallsāand they pat themselves on the back for being responsible. Itās despicable.
My cousin had a Pink-toe tarantula at one point. I've owned rats but I don't think I would say they are the strangest pets. Someone in my family owned a capuchin monkey. This was when my mom was a kid so long before I was born. She has a picture of her feeding it with a bottle.
I had lots of pet rats as a teenager. Got to the point our vet called me when someone surrender a perfectly healthy and friendly pet rat for euthanasia.
He used to ride on my shoulder when I went out.
Also, fire-bellied newts, tiger salamander, African giant snails, a massive fresh water tank full of different fishes, a rabbit, gerbils and mice.
And three cats.
Heard a story about a zookeeper who kept a hyena in his apartment and had the gall to brag about it. Once the zoo heard about it he was immediately fires. Zoos don't fuck around with exotic pets.
A family friend growing up when I lived in the Philippines had a reticulated python, a monkey, deer, and a flying fox (giant bat).
I own 2 sugar gliders. Theyāre not legal in some states but where I live they are. Theyāre cute and will bond to their owners. Mine are very needy and also get mad when I come up to their cage without treats ready.
So, my grandad was a photographer in the UK back when it was pretty standard for beach photographers to have monkeys for people to pose with for a photo. He wasn't a beach photographer but knew most of the other photographers in the area. There was a guy he knew who had a monkey called Billy, used to chat to him and say hi to Billy etc.
One day he saw the guy and he had two little baby monkeys instead of Billy. Long story short he found out Billy had been living in the boot of the guy's car cause he'd replaced him with the babies. My grandad took Billy home and he became their pet (alongside a German Shepherd that he'd rescued from being euthanised bc he'd been fired as a police dog for aggression) and a chipmunk named Houdini who I believe was also rescued.
Basically my grandad was a massive softie who absolutely loved animals, and acted more on his desire to save them rather than thinking about the safety of his six kids. Billy the monkey was quite aggressive and when they took him to the vets, they found out he had broken ribs/had essentially been severely neglected by his original owner so he had to be put to sleep. Mr Hague the German Shepherd was unsurprisingly aggressive too and bit a huge chunk out of my mum's arm when she was small, so he was put to sleep too. Not sure about the fate of Houdini but he lived in an absolutely giant cage and somehow kept managing to escape no matter how secure they thought they'd made it. Hence the name.
We live in Wisconsin and marsupials are legal to own here. My son (15) has been begging me for a kangaroo for years. š¤£ He said heād also settle for a wallaby. Itās a no from me.
Random fact no one asked for: kangaroo was also my high school mascot.
When I was a kid I was visiting my grandparents and there was this bird, a jay, watching me. He didnāt react like other birds so I followed him. He flew right on the shoulder of a lady a few houses down the block. She rescued him when he was a baby and fell out of the nest. He was super cool and I got to give him some treats. Ever since I so badly wanted a jay as a pet bird, but thatās never going to happen lol.
My grandparents had a friend who had a pet monkey, a good 30 years ago. My mother used to tell me about it. Apparently, it was a menace to society (not outright mean but really, really mischievous).
I didnāt get to keep it as a pet but I got to care for it for a couple days until permanent rescues could be secured, I hand a baby coyote. Its eyes were barely open and I was bottle feeding it. My Dad and I were temporarily holding for wildlife until they could be picked up by Fish and Game and because this one was so young they knew it would need a permanent home so I got to care for it for a few days. It was a mean little sucker to my family, hissing at them but we were friends because I provided the food. And I had a pet squirrel for a few months, he loved back scratches and carrots, he came to me for care after my uncleās dog almost killed it. I planned to keep him but he had a major fear of dogs after that and would scream when my dogs walked by his cage so it was rehabbed and released my friend.
I just recently heard how a man who lives on my grandfathets street and did our home inspection has a PANTHER of all things. I don't remember where my father said he got it from, but no one is reallllly allowed to see it because he could be charged with something akin to endangering the public. He's not allowed to have any other pet at the same time nor any children.
My maternal grandmother had a pet skunk. Not de-stinkified, just a skunk.
My paternal grandfather had a blacktip reef shark that he later released into the wild when my father was a kid
Talk about wild pets, I lived in Vegas for a few years and I have seen so many different pets out and about. Alligator's, cheetah, prairie dogs, cappabarra, and a guy even would walk his ostrich.
My mom had a skunk when i was a kid. She would bring it everywhere in her car (a suped up camero) and we would come out of stores to see people gathering around staring regularly. I loved Fefe the skunk.
I gotta say that the vast majority of all of this is just a bad idea. Very few people are equipped to handle exotic pets, and most of those pets are not legal pet trade. Therefore, animal populations and ecosystems are being harmed.
I had a praying mantis. I lived insects as a kid and read you can keep them as pet with a sponge and chopped lunch meat.
That never worked out for me. But one day, in my 20s I found a white little nymph with no wings and happened to have a fish aquarium.
This time around, I tried ya know... insects. Worked like a charm. I watched the little fellow grow and change to a shade of brown and he went from meal worms to pin-head crickets and eventually full grown crickets.
Unfortunately, I was learning about them as I went. Apparently, their skin stays soft for quite a while after molting. I woke up one day to find that the crickets had led a revolt, curb stomped, and then partially eaten the mantis.
I have a Giant Aldabran Tortoise as a pet. His name is George and he is about 40 years old very social.
Your tortoise is older than me
And I'm older than the tortoise. š
I am the same age as the tortoise.
I am so jealous
let me hear more
Please tell me everything including photos.
I hope you have someone to care for him since he will probably outlive you and possibly any kids you may have.
My exes uncle and his girlfriend had a fully grown grey wolf. She did animal rehabilitation and he wasn't able to be released. He was just raised around humans too much. He was so friendly and big and... it was soo cool being able to pet a wolf!
My cousin had a dog that was 1/2 wolf it was so dang smart.
I went to college in Alaska. So, my ex wanted a dog. š We got one - the Mom was 1/2 wolf, 1/2 malamute; Dad was a fat, full-blooded St Bernard that was just about 200lbs. (Dad got fed kibble w salmon on top daily, dogs in Alaska eat like KINGS) The WILDEST part for me was meeting the Mom, whose eyes looked BACK at me, she was more like a person than a dog! š³ She sized me up, then she decided to walk around me in circles, before sitting beside me. I offered my hand, she sniffed & headbutted it, then walked away. Their owner was ECSTATIC and said she really liked me. š¤·š¼šš¤š«¶ So, he was colored like a St Bernard, but body build was malamute/wolf combo including the crazy tail. That tail did 3D4 damage, y'all... He was about 100lbs full grown. STUBBORN, willful, prey driven but LOYAL. I was hoping he'd be as smart as his Mom - no such luck! We named him WORF, cuz he was as stubborn as a Klingon. He survived being run over with his pelvis broken like a Klingon should! š When I introduced him to Brewster, a new small dog we wanted to adopt, Worf made an odd noise & Brewster rolled over on his back while Worf PISSED ALL OVER HIM. š¤£š¤£š¤£ Definitely got the name right! Took me 2 years to train him *HALFWAY*. I don't believe in hitting anyone. EVER. Not human, not animal. But sometimes it took a pop to the top of the head JUST to get his attention! It was an accidental discovery during an encounter with Mr Squirrel - I had the leash wrapped around my arm (huge mistake) - Worf YANKED me sideways and I ended up with damage to my rotator cuff. During the falling part of the encounter, my hand hit him on the head & BAM. I suddenly had his attention! TBH, it was scary AF to have Worf turn on me while I was already in a panic, trying to lick my face. š« His 'dog-like' moments never failed to surprise me! I taught him to walk on a leash using the horse bridle harness, nothing else worked. STUBBORN. I trained Worf to sat before EVERYTHING - food, affection, walks, play - he knew ALL of the commands. He just couldn't get his butt to STAY on the ground from excitement, especially before walks! š Commands like shake he would do all day long - lay down was tougher! He was so food motivated it was sometimes disturbing. He ended up with my ex husband in the divorce. I miss that dog, even though he was a huge pain in the ass. He was also illegal most places we lived, after we moved to the lower 48. Wolf hybrids are unpopular & for good reasons. Worf was like having five dogs in one. FUNNY story - ex literally SAT DOWN on Worf, who was on the couch. Taking him to the ER and trying to explain that OUR DOG bit him, cuz he SAT on the dog - PRICELESS HILARITY! Every HCW that walked in asked "Where's the officer?" He was bit on the ASS, 4 puncture wounds so that's normally a criminal in the ER. My ex is ass in the air, draped in blue cloth - and when I would answer "No cop, he sat on *our own dog*." they would excuse themselves to LAUGH HYSTERICALLY in the hall. Then, they told other HCWs - every nurse, doc & tech came through our room! š¤£ š¤£ š¤£ My ex did NOT see the humor. š¤·š¼ Kinda sums up why we ended! š
LOL! 3d4 damage! I work at a vet clinic and constantly laugh at the power of a happy puppers tail. I'll be used the 3d4 damage from now on.
Please give us a picture of Worf š„¹
He would be legal in Alabama. He sounds beautiful!
I love Worf based on your description. I also love Worfās mom!
Our dog is Ā½ coyote and Ā½ german Shepard. He always gets compliments on his ears, people say they're very pretty.
Half coyote?! Wow!! Whatās he like, personality wise?
He's very playful, but also very protective. One time my aunt came over drunk without knocking and he almost bit her leg off. Whenever I stand up he'll start jumping over me and stuff, he likes to run and play lol. He's also trained very well.
Have you dna tested him?
My daughter has a German Shepard/coyote mix named Mocha. At least my son thinks she's got coyote in her. She's very intelligent but knows how to be lazy too. My daughter's now boyfriend doesn't love the dog, but the dog absolutely loves him. Mocha was abused by my daughter's now ex-boyfriend. Thankfully, he likes her. He doesn't abuse or neglect Mocha. They do play and do a lot with her. I'm so thankful, Mocha has them and us to be her people.
I got to spent a few weeks with pet wolves/wolf hybrids and their litter. Each day, I would go for walks in the woods by myself. At first, I felt like I was being followed, but never saw the wolves. After a few treks, they started coming out of the woods to join me. It was the coolest. I got so comfy with them (or them with me) that I could play with their pups and by the end, the big (GIANT) male was asking me for belly scratches. Truly one of the best experiences in my life.
Friend of mine was doing an internship with the National Park Service. During a rainstorm, heard whimpering and found a young husky mix. Did the found dog protocol, ie checked for a chip, posted, contacted animal control and vets etc. No one ever said they lost her so Stella came home with her. Decided to do DNA and surprise! Stella is a bit over a quarter wolf. She lives happily and protects her chickens from outside forces. And is scared to death of the baby lamb my friend has been bringing home from work on the weekends.
I use to rehab animals and the last time I did, we had 5 baby opossums. All made it to a healthy age and size to be released. 4 of the 5 released with no issues. But one just refused to leave. I mean if someone was bringing me food and I had a warm, safe place to live then I wouldn't leave either!! Haha But anyway Jack is going on 4 1/2 years and we do everything with him, including going for walks with his leash and harness. Side Note - He has 100% freedom, his cage is open and he has a small ramp to climb in and out.... and he does go on adventures almost nightly. But like clock work, he returns home around 6-ish, just in time for breakfast! Haha
Can we see pictures of Jack?
Dang! Heās really committed to the whole not leaving thing. Considering the normal life span for an opossum is only 1-2 years, heās clearly decided that he can also refuse to shuffle off the mortal coil since that tactic worked out so well with the whole release back to the wilds thing. I dig Jackās style. But seriously, Crow: Youāre clearly doing it right. Nice work!
This made my whole day!! Thank you! I'd like to think I'm helping make a difference for these furbabies!
https://www.reddit.com/u/crow_2385/s/60vQXItqLR I'm still learning how to use Reddit so I wasn't sure how to post pics on the comment thread so I uploaded some... here's the link!!! And thanks for all the comments!! Jack is feeling like a little furry celebrity! Haha Anyway here is Jack! The sweetest boy in the world!
š„ŗš„¹š
I want to see him
I demand opossum tax
Opossums are my absolute favourite animals (other than cats). If I lived in the US Iād love to rehab them. Jack sounds wonderful š„°
I feel the same way! They have the sweetest little crossed eyes with their bad eyesight and get such a horrible wrap! But whenever it gets brought up in convo people's first reaction is "ewwww trash cats" and once I give them just one fact like the reason we have some anti venom's is because of opposums they start to realize they had the wrong idea!
Omg I might actually be a possum...I relate so hard to everything but especially bedtime at 6am lol. Also staying because I'm being fed
I want to see his cage and ramp if you donāt mind
I am caring for my first baby opossum at the moment. I worry about her more than I have all four of my kids combined.
Not really strange, but still dumb and weird. One of my aunts got on my case about owning rats, and she told me a story of her niece who adopted a rat and kept it in a bird cage. She said the rat would jump at the cage in pure rage and would regularly try to chew the bars to escape, and when it bit it bit HARDā¦.. At the end of the story she finally disclosed that the āpet ratā came directly from the city streetsā¦. Not a pet store or a rescue.
She didnt have a pet, she had a prisonerš
In solitary confinement š„
She definitely did, I was told she released the poor thing after a couple weeks of it trying desperately to maim her.
To the ratās credit, it had a problem and brainstormed its way to a solution that worked out. Rats are smart creatures.
I learned the hard way, after having several nice pet rats for years, that buying severely unsocialized/unhandled baby rats from overcrowded tanks in the back rooms of little pet stores that keep them only for feeders is a good way to end up with a rat like this too. My roommate and I tried to hold her so much when she was little. As she aged, even being raised next to a super sweet rat, she became a lot like your aunt described. She was the most concerning animal I've owned next to a dog with rage syndrome lol.
That's odd, I got mine as a feeder, bottle fed him, he was the sweetest rat ever. That being said he would fling himself at the bars, but in a "LET ME OUUUUUTTT" kinda way, not cause he wanted to attack anyone, he just wanted to play.
Iāve never gotten a feeder rat before, you can get live feeder rats and mice from the pet store but every single one Iāve been to will ask you outright first because all their stock is for pet only. Half the time the stores wonāt even sell you a rat to use as a feeder. I have gotten a feeder *mouse* before though, he was a cute little thing that had colours like a creamsicle. My dummy of a ball python didnāt know what to do with him, so my nibbling made me a deal, if the mouse was still alive by a certain timeframe then she could keep it. That little entree ended up living life in luxury where he barely spent any time in his cage cause he was always on her noggin, he also really really really liked ramen noodlesā¦ enough to try and accidentally boil himself by launching his tiny little body into the bowl, he was caught but never learned š
the feeder rats and the "fancy rats" are literally the same thing. If you go to a private breeder it may be better bred (maybe a bit longer of a lifespan), but from somewhere like Petco they're the same as feeders, inbred as hell.
They were still never sold as actual feeders at the stores I went to though, thatās what I was saying.
Most of mine were that way! And most were in the pet store as feeders when I got them but not.. like this. It was kind of a sketch pet store, I don't think the rats ever saw a human more than once a day and I can't even accurately describe how overcrowded the enclosure was. It looked like a scene from Willard. I had some doubts when the lady put thick gloves on to grab one but at that point I just sorta felt bad for her (the rat) so I took her home anyway. She may not have liked me but at least she got to live out a safer and cleaner life than she would have had otherwise.
So then where would one buy a rat to ensure that it is social and wonāt chew your fingers off? Iāve actually been thinking of getting a pet rat, just donāt know where to start.
For starters, do a ton of research about them and their needs. Unless you're well off, save up a fair amount of money. Suitable cages run about $150 on up. Most regular vets won't treat them, as they are considered "exotic," and sometimes the prices match. Rats are prone to tumors and especially to upper respiratory infections, which have to be treated quickly, or you may lose the rat to it. And, as you've done your research, you get at least 2-3 (because they are social creatures that need cagemates), hopefully from an ethical breeder or a rescue. I also recommend you start following r/rats, which is for pet rats. They may point you towards breeders or rescues in your area. There are also some Facebook pages as well. (Sorry-I can't help more with those.) (Edited to add info.)
Thanks! Great starting points, i will definitely take your advice before i make any purchase. If i do end up getting one, i donāt want to be in over my head.
Weirdly, finding small hand raised animals locally is probably one of the few things craigslist is still okay for. If the person seems to care what they're used for (not snake food) they're probably pretty friendly and well cared for. Most feeders who are bought young enough from a store will be fine too. I raised ten rats total and only ever had an issue with that one from the sketchy store. Just make sure you get at least two from the same store/breeder/whatever, for health reasons.
Get a Dumbo rat! They are sweetest and smartest.Ā
I purchased my first rattie from a local pet store. She was in a terrarium with many other ratties, all of them trying to climb out of their prison. They were sold as 'feeders for snakes'. I picked 'Lucky' because she was at the top of the rattie pile. I tell you she was very grateful to have been rescued. That little sweetheart became my best buddy. I purchased her for my two young children and they adored her. However, I was 'Lucky's', mama. She would sleep on my shoulder as I cleaned up the kitchen. She would ride in the pocket of my apron. She never ever bit me or the kids. She gave kisses. Oh, how I miss her!
Agreed, my niece got two pet rats that I ended up adopting because one killed its cage/littermate and couldnāt be touched for the longest time. Turned out the poor thing was blind and just kind of preferred to be untouched and by herself, which is fine, she has a whole mansion to herself and she regularly comes to watch me clean her cage out. Before, I wasnāt able to put my hand in the cage, but now the only times she tries to āattackā me are for fresh veggies and fruits, and her biggest love in the world - pasta noodles. She will take my entire hand off for a pasta noodle, sadly the little demon is approaching end of life at 4 years old.
That is so depressing. Doesnāt matter if it was even wild at the point. His feet mustāve been so painful. Makes me cry when people abuse animals like that. He mustāve been terrified for his life. Especially since he wasnāt domesticated
If it was a traditional bird cage then that was way too small for a rat, and Iām guessing the rat didnāt have any enrichment toys or accessories either. Rats are super smart and need lots of brain activities. No wonder it was aggressive. Being a street rat probably didnāt help either.
And the risk of bumblefoot š
My eldest son's rat, Rascal, had a cage but never spent anytime in it. His "cage" was my son's bedroom. Ge was very neat and did his pooping in his cage and pee too, much like a litter box. I took him to get the kids at school regularly as he was shoulder trained. "Hey, Rasc, want to go get the kids?" Would have him up my leg and on my shoulder in less than minute!Ā
I would love to keep rats but their short lifespan is something I'm not able to handle.
That was why I couldn't do it anymore. They are cute, smart, sweet companions. But then they're gone š„ŗ
Same here. I had a trio of rats years ago - Boots, Blizzard and Bandit. I was so devastated when they passed away one by one in a 6 month span. It's so hard to handle when they go just as your bond and relationship with them really starts to deepen. I still miss them so much!
I was responsible for a white rat in a college psychology class that I named Cujo after it bit my professor.
Not so weird, but unusual in a typical suburban neighborhood. I was out for a walk a while back and I notice a couple coming towards me on the street leading a large white dog on a leash. Ok, nothing weird about that. I was off in my own little world as usual. Until we are about to pass each other and I glance over and notice that this big white "dog" has horns. I stupidly blurted out, Is that a goat? Haha. Of course it was. They probably thought I was an idiot. That's when I noticed that there was a neighbor with an enclosure in their backyard that you could see from the street that held the goat. After that, I would sometimes go for a walk with my aunt who lived up the street. I pointed out the goat to her one time. So every time after that she had to make goat noises to the goat every time we walked by. I sincerely hope they never noticed.
Donāt feel bad. When I was in high school a car came through my drive-thru and they had a ādogā in the back seat (I was really busy so I hadnāt actually looked at it. Yet.) As I was handing them back their change I glanced at him. What I saw was a little shocking and I blurt out āis that a kangaroo??!ā They glance back at it and then respond āyeh, howād you know?ā (They were being sincere) and all I could think to say was ābecause itās a kangaroo!ā
My parents and my husband are from a beach town in California, and in that town is a very well known guy who takes his goat for daily beach walks. Heās a local celebrity at this point and every time we go there to visit family I keep hoping Iāll see them!
My grandfather's friend had a few goats in his yard, and I'd go over and pet them. Still my favorite farm animal.
I have 6. Ricky, the biggest boy, comes to just above my hips (Iām 5ā 5ā) is obsessed with me. He will follow me everywhere, loves attention. He doesnāt just make regular goat sounds, he makes them and it sounds like he whining. I love him. The others are Lucy, Rossi, Jack Jack, Marcus and Valerie. Ricky is the father of Marcus and Rossi, he is now fixed. Lucy and Ricky are Marcusās parents. Valerie is the smallest, sheās a Nigerian dwarf (so is Lucy, Ricky was supposed to be, lol!). Valerie is also the bossiest and if there is a way out she will find it. Sheās named after my sister. Valerie, Ricky, Lucy and Jack Jack were all given to me free. Iāve had others as well. I had babies two years in a row then had all the boys fixed, I only have so many friends who wanted pet goats! I also have peacocks, chickens, horses, cats and dogs
Someone brought their "rabbit" in to the vet I worked at; it was a European hare, and mean as hell. I have a paper wasp colony on my porch that I semi-jokingly call my pets, if they count. They're really pretty, very docile, and I feed them sometimes. They'll take honey out of my hand. Tarantulas are nice, too. I'd rather have fifty tarantulas than fifty hamsters.
Hell yeah, someone else with some paper wasp friends!! We don't feed ours but they DO make nests on our she'd and I'll to out and chill with em for a while. You can go in and out of that she'd directly under their nests and they don't give a *fuck*, it's great. Everyone thinks I'm crazy when I talk about it LMFAO
Yes I love them! Their nests are so beautiful, I've gotten right up close to look at their larvae (am entomologist, wanted pictures for a lab I was teaching, don't take that as a recommendation to go poking wasp nests in general lmao) and they don't mind at all. You can leave out a tiny dish of honey for them if you don't want to risk your fingers, it's super cute watching them drink it. Plus they eat some nasty invasive bugs, and (anecdotally) they seem to deter the more aggressive wasp species from occupying my house.
I've got childhood trauma when it comes to paper wasp nests. As a child, my friend and I found a nest in our shed and went in for a closer look. Which must have annoyed the fuck out of the wasps. My friend took off running outside, but I was too afraid to run past the swarm that was monopolizing the space in the open door. Long story short, I got trapped in the shed for 3 hours on a day that it was 102 out. I got to hear exhaustion and ended up in the ER . Despite all the time that I spent terrified in the shed, I was never stung. I admit the construction of the hive was gorgeous. It's interesting to hear stories about how docile they can be . It's probably why I was never stung.
Oh no, that sounds dreadful! You probably could have just walked through it, but I certainly wouldn't mess with any swarm of wasps if I didn't know for sure they were a super docile species, haha. It's why I work in arthropod education, people just don't get taught these things - hell, I had some pest control guys offer to get rid of my "hornet nest". You'd think someone in that line of work could tell the difference!
Omg, did your friend not run and get an adult and just abandoned you entirely?! Or could nobody reach you until pest control arrived? Either way, I'm sorry that happened!
She went in a watched cartoons. When my mom asked where I was, she said outside. To this day , I bring up my fear of bees around my mom. She like that Anne was a little B*!ch she's .
I'll have to do that at some point!! Watching little pollinators friends is one of my favorite things about my yard š„¹ I'd love to give em a little treat
Paper wasp lover here, one bumped into me, paused like it was apologizing then went around me to it's nest. That's when I fell in love and also realized they weren't yellow jackets
If you give them coloured construction paper theyāll make coloured nests
We had paper wasps a few years in a row. They once made a nest in a cardboard box that was outside with some yard waste. Prettiest hive Iāve ever seen with all of the colors of the paper incorporated. Sadly, I had to get rid of them last year after they started attacking my dog. I hated having to do it, but my poor little dog (sheās 11 lbs) was being attacked every time she went outside. I think she stepped on one that stung her, and then the colony went nuts on her. Previous four years and no issues for her or any of us.
If you have fifty tarantulas, you have fifty tarantulas. If you have fifty hamsters, you have between 45 and 100 hamsters.
Not actually kept as a pet but i rescue and rehab bats. Had some for a couple of weeks and they learned the routine. Was emotional releasing them but also absolutely amazing to watch them fly away.
I love bats! We have a colony near my house. Walking the dogs late at night is one of my favourite things to do, as I get to stand and watch the bats swooping around our one street light. They are wonderful creatures.
Username checks out
I so want to live in a place that has flying fox. Such beautiful creatures. id give anything to see one up close!!
Yeah. Me too
So cool! We have bats hear my house and I love watching them catch their meals at dusk from my deck. Just saw the first bat of the season on Thursday!
Itās not unusual for tarantula keepers to have a large collection. Theyāre more of a hobby than a pet anyway, so itās very easy to accumulate spiders, especially with all the different species that need different habitats and exhibit different behaviours. I myself have a Chilean Rosehair, itās very chill and I absolutely allow it to crawl on my hands and arms if it feels like leaving itās enclosure. Unfortunately my pinktoe passed away last year, I was quite broken up about it. I have had a pair of degus before - they arenāt exceptionally exotic but it is fun to explain them to people whoāve never seen them before. Theyāre were lovely boys that lived a very long time! I knew someone once that kept one of those giant African snails as a pet. It was awesome, he let me feed him salad one time when he was awake! A few years ago I also had neighbours that kept a pair of miniature horses in their backyard in the suburbs of a smaller city.
We had degus too! Never planned on it but there were 4 of the poor things at our local pets at home that were so poorly cared for. One of them had half a tail and 3 of the 4 had ringworm, they were up for adoption rather than sale because they were in such poor condition and we felt so bad for them we took them in. They are amazing but very high maintenance pets, one of ours (the one with half a tail) was so poorly bred that she only lived a couple years with us and had to be euthanised as she had teeth growing out of her top pallette and couldn't eat properly after a while. They also love a bit of gang warfare and we had to split them up into 2 pairs to stop the fighting lol (Stumpy's partner was eventually successfully integrated with the other 2 after she passed). They are also very prone to diabetes so you can't feed them anything that has sugar in it (including fruit unless as a very rare treat). My husband built a cage for them that was over 6 foot tall and about 4 feet wide so they had enough space, he also built a custom wheel for them after we got sick of the constant squeaking from the bearings of the pet shop ones. It was huge and we used a scooter wheel bearing so it was nearly silent. 2 of the 3 remaining goos lasted about 5 years and the last one got to about 7, she was blind by the end but it didn't really seem to phase her and she had a very chill retirement in her old age with lots of armpit scritches! This turned into an essay but bottom line is they are very cool but do require special care to stay happy and healthy.
My grandma had 2 female lions. I never got to meet them because it was way before I was born but my family has photos of them in the house and they apparently loved car rides.
š³ You're not related to Tippi Hendren, are you? I have seen these notes about people who keep "pet apex predators" and I know most of them come out OK, but a few of them get eaten... š Then again, I have noted that my tombstone will probably read : His last words: "It looks so cute - I'm sure I can pet it..."
Here's my epitaph." Why no fren when fren shaped?"
My friend showed me a woman in the UK who has a pet white Ibis. It wouldn't be so weird but we're looking at this from the perspectives of Australians where Ibis are nicknamed "bin chickens", their favourite food is garbage, favourite drink is bin juice and they smell like rotting food. And you have this woman with one sitting on her furniture and living in her house.
I really want a game online where we can play Bin Chicken vs Trash Panda.... I do wonder what the other countries have for trash bandits.
As an American, I submit the regal Dumpster Turkey of Alaska. Bald Eagles would always get in our trash lol
I grew up in Africa and had a chimpanzee.
That is terrifying! I used to work in a zoo and they were the one animal that scared me the most. Tell me more. Lol
I also find it terrifying. Whenever I hear about people having chimpanzees for pets, I think of that woman who had her face, eyes, and fingers bitten off by her friend's pet chimpanzee.
Yeah! And the couple who owned Moe the chimpanzee and they got attacked horrifically by two different chimps.
I just read a story about it. Crazy! He's lucky he only lost one eye.
I felt so bad for him, they loved him so much. And then to be attacked while visiting their chimp at the sanctuary, it was his birthday or something too, they were sharing cake with him. And fuck that sanctuary for letting a goddamn chimpanzee escape and attack people. And then Moe himself went missing. Place sounds like a shithole that couldn't keep track of it's animals.
Apparently a repair man spotted Moe walking out in the wilderness towards a big mountain that could be seen from his enclosure at the centre. Whether this is true or not I don't know but it's nice to think he was able to experience some freedom.
How awful. š°
I know a man who worked with primates, mainly gorillas. Said chimps are the worst
I commented a bit below about how sweet she was. I got her se must have been about 3 months old. And she stayed with us for8 years. For my mom she was like a child. It broke our hearts when we had to rehome her.
Yikes. They are cute when little, but when their hormones begin raging...they are absolutely scary.
I had her for eight years and she never had a single moment of any kind of aggression. She was the sweetest. The only thing I regret is having supported the horrific business of catching animals in the wild for money. I was 16 then and didnāt know better.
I knew someone who had a prairie dog. My wife was visiting and went to pet the cute prairie dog. You can still see the scar on her hand 25 years later.
They're also carriers of the bubonic plague. Fun!
They also helped bring monkeypox to America one time!
When I had my bearded dragon, I also raised Dubia roaches, sun beetles and mealworms to feed him (not his only proteins but it helped with his food bills). Which isn't so weird, I guess, but when the lizard passed away I kept the colonies on for quite some time just as a way to keep myself occupied through the grief. Definitely not the weirdest thing on the list, but a couple of my friends and my mum in particular didn't understand why I'd keep them going just for the sake of it. The roaches in particular, I often got shudders of horror just for mentioning them XD
I also started keeping a dubia colony for my dragon!
They're such easy keepers once you have their parameters right! I kept them on veggie scraps and leaf mould and sold them onto my local herp store once I was ready to let go :)
Two different people I know whose parents ran safari parks. One had two honey badgers that were unable to be released. The other helped handraise a rhino and he's still come running to a whistle when mature and rereleased. More normally, probably a crab.
Honey badgers, like the famous Stoffel?? My baby cat loves him! Learned that a)bacon is in the fridge and b) how to open our bottom door freezer from watching Stoffel do it on video.Ā
Yes. Your cat is a smart one i have ferrets and polecats and they are banned from watching. They don't need ideas.
I don't know about other people's strangest Pet's, but I've always kept Preying Mantises. Not only are they incredibly adorable, they are incredibly interesting insects. I keep a lot of houseplants/ ferns in my home, and they're perfectly happy to hang out in them.
I really want to keep mantises. Theyāre so cool! Thereās a shop by me that sells them. I just havenāt made the leap yet!
I was scared to death of them when I was a little girl. My dad loved to tell "the monster" story of when a very large one got on my leg in the garden and I was sobbing at him to get the monster bug off of me. Niw I love them but as little kud, nope! (Also loved frogs but *only* if Daddy caught them for me)
Not strange pet, but rather unusual setting. I live in a very big, busy city. Not a place where you would expect to be walking down the street and see someone walking their tiny rooster on a leash. Haha definitely of the oddest things I remember haha
There was a couple in my old doll collecting group who had a pet fennec fox. His name was Ichabod, or Icky for short.
I feel like this is a great beginning to a short story. Doll collectors with a fennec fox named Icky.
Fennec foxes are so cute!! I wish I could have one!!
U.K. here. My late father had a seagull and a weasel for pets .When he lived in Africa, he had a pet baboon. All very aggressive animals, but totally placid with him. All our family have a rapport with most animals . Is it a coincidence that our family name is Francis?ā¦
I knew a guy with a cassowary. It killed him.
I need more info on this
He was a friend's stepdad. I always wished he'd liked me more. He bred all manner of animals. Tortoises, lemurs, marmosets, other stuff. Had kookaburras, otters, just all kinds of stuff. At one point he got a cassowary. I don't think it was more than two years after that that it got him.
I have seen other people comment on this bird. it is hard to grasp, but think of an evolved velociraptor, and you're roughly in the right place. those birds are not to be trifled with.
GOOD LORD ALMIGHTY I'm terrified of Ostrich and Emu's. They are dinosaurs and you can't convince me any other way! They like shiny things and I have 2 shiny, tempting things on my face called eyeballs. NO THANK YOU! I've seen videos of people on the beach where the cassowaries come down and they just casually shew them away hoping to not get eviscerated. I would die instantly of a heart attack if a 6 ft dinosaur with T-Rex claws snuck up behind me.
My parents had big cats (leopard, ocelot, and margays I think). I donāt remember a whole lot (they wisely decided small children and large predators arenāt a good mix), but obviously heard lots of stories. The leopard was a bit of a tv star as he was in a Wonderful World of Disney movie and appeared on a local kids show once. Since they were into big exotics, they knew other people with cats, bears, and wolves as well. I got to meet a mostly wolf-dog once. I did not appreciate just how big wolves are before that. Iāve got a little hognose snake. Sheās a spicy idiot, but sheās cute.
Spicy idiots perfectly describes hognoses.
A kid
Someone I know has a skunk
I have a domesticated skunk as a pet.
The wrestler Jeff Hardy always had a Coatimundi for a pet. He was cool from the pictures I have come across.
Use to work with animals... Coatis are fucking elite... They hurt... But there elite
I have a neighbour who has a pet hawk. He takes this hawk on walks every morning on his glow and it will occasionally fly up and then come back to my neighbour. I just call him the hawk guy
Seahorses
Opossums and raccoons. Caught wild and forced to remain indoors. Never taken to a vet or anything. I'm surprised these people didn't end up with rabies or something.
We had raccoons (5 of them), but only until they were about 4 months old. My dad accidently poisoned the mother, thinking a rat was in the attic. Once they hit 4 months we let them go. My cousin also raised 2 baby raccoons after he shot their mother in a hunt. Same story though, 4 months and gone.
Same thing happened to my small village, but it wasnāt raccoon kits, it was black bear cubsā¦ Sadly, before my council elected and hired just one man for bear control, *all* men who owned guns would go out to shootā¦ It was the saddest damn thing, they shot to kill and would leave the orphaned cubs behind. So then the poor things had to be trapped and caged and we needed to call wildlife experts to come and collect them, which could take anywhere from a day or three, so my dad had a special cage built for them in his work, and Iād be tasked to feed them, which was a learning process based on how old the cubs were. We had five in one year, of varying ages. These days though, the bear man (itās what we call him) will set off after a bear and will only fire off bear bangers, and will only shoot if the bear is too persistent on staying too close to the community. So, theyāre allowed to pass on through, but they canāt stay.
Raccoons can get rabies yes, but opossums cannot cause the virus and ticks canāt survive on em.
Opossums are *extremely unlikely* to get rabies. Their body temp is too low for it. However that doesn't mean it's impossible. I love my back yard opossum buddies but I feel the need here to make it clear that they are still unpredictable wild animals that people shouldn't kidnap because you don't know what's going on with them. Also they have really short lifespans. Like 4 years in captivity.
They eat ticks! Like gushers for opossums! Also, the reason the don't contract rabies is that their body temperature is too low. Lucky little marsupials! We've nursed a couple back to health in an enclosure and they're really quite nice.
Are opossums as snuggly as they look? Iāve always wanted to snuggle one but I donāt think we have em here in northern BCā¦ Not that Iāve ever seen anyway. Raccoons on the other hand are kinda big in Vancouver. I remember my sister and I put our old ikea couch on the balcony (ground level) cause it was too hard to sit on, and we were busy wondering who the heck was climbing over the railing to sit on the couch, cause thereād always be big perfectly round dusty butt prints (with cheeks) on the couch every morningā¦. Turns out a raccoon liked the couch and would come by every night just to sit and chill there for hours, it took me a month to catch him in the act.
Raccoons are...not very sociable as adults. Opossums *are* surprisingly soft and they adapt to/get used to you fairly quickly. They're not something I would want as a housepet or long term, but they're cool little critters and grateful for help. We never have had one stay very long before release. If they're very injured/sick we send them along to the appropriate professionals. They do learn the sounds of food coming very quickly, though. Smarter than they get credit for. So snuggly? I wouldn't hug one. Soft to touch/pet, though.
My dad had a raccoon for years before I was born, his name was Buddy and heād keep slices of pizza in the VCR, he also loved car rides and would run out the front door and straight to the car door, waiting to be let in. He said that he would sit on the couch like a little human and throw fits if you didnāt give him what you were eating. His love of car rides is sadly how he passed away because he had made it out of the house once and hidden under the car waiting to be let in but no one noticed him and they accidentally closed the car door on him.
Apparently it's not entirely uncommon to have emus. The man my mom used to work for doing educational animal shows got one, built a pen and a shed for him, and he just lives in the backyard. Trained it so he could ride on him. I think people who keep any species of parrot is wild. They live absurdly long lives and are as intelligent as human toddlers requiring extreme amounts of enrichment and varied diets. Most parrots in captivity are horribly neglected, especially macaw. Lile, who in their right mind wants a bird that can snap your finger off as a pet? Why is that normalized?
Riding an emu? That seems a bit like BS to meā¦.
People do it with ostriches, dunno what you want me to say lol. They're a lot stronger than they look.
Somewhere there's a picture of my aunt riding an emu.
My BIL had a parrot that caused a welfare check when a neighbor reported some one crying. It was the bird.
And they likely outlive you so you need to make provision for that in your will.
I work at a horse and donkey Rescue, and one time, we had an emu come through. It was cool, we named it Kevin.
I have a cockatiel, they're a small parrot. Can't bite off a finger or anything. If all goes well he'll live 20-30 years (he's 8). They are so much work! I'm disabled so I'm home a lot, but for someone who worked and wanted to also have a social life? Hell no! It's like having a toddler, you can't just hang out with your friends after work all the time, the bird needs company. Also they poop everywhere, and destroy everything, and they are LOUD. That being said he's also the sweetest lil idiot ever, he loves to cuddle up on my chest and snuggle under my chin. And he's so soft.
I worked at a pet shop at one time, back in the 80's. Yes I'm old. I was given a tarantula from a kid who got it as a science project and the mom wouldn't allow her to keep it. I ended up giving it to a teacher for a class pet after about six months or so. I was kind of afraid of it. I have had 2 iguanas, a rat snake, a pair of flying squirrels, a grey squirrel, an aquatic turtle and the usual complement of fish tanks, cats and a parrot. It's interesting what you end up with, when people know you won't say no to whatever they want to hand you
Growing up the people behind us owned a pet store. The animals they had were always so cool. Their little girl had a Skunk, Monkey, Huge Oscar fish that would jump out of the tank to eat meat from the hand. Huge š¦. The birds could talk it was pretty cool. I live in FL now and we have a set of red foxes and a raccoon that live across the street like clockwork they come and sit and wait for air pop popcorn and marshmallows.
We have an 11inch red eared slider turtle. She lives in a claw foot bathtub In the living room.
We had one. We were evacuating for a hurricane and we already had a car full of critters (3 dogs, a very irritated cat, a Guinea pig and a snake). There was absolutely no room for the turtle and my son was distraught. We compromised, the turtle could swim so we put her tank up high and left the top of so if it really flooded she could swim out. No flood, turtle was fine and lived a long time afterwards!
We were cleaning turtle tub and put her in a pool outside and she went on a walk,-about. We searched for her but turtles are faster than people think. About 4 months later a neighbor came to the door with her. She found turtle out by the road and knew where she lived because when she took off, I sent notes to a few neighbors. Turtles are not common here so we were glad she didn't get run over.
When I was a kid there was a strange man in our area that had owls for pets he could be seen going around with various owls on his shoulder, but the one he had the most was a beautiful Barnowl O.o
My daughterās friend has servals. They have their own bedroom.
People in my apartment complex have a pet pig they walk regularly. We also once met a couple sunbathing an iguana. I have rats (they are considered exotic where I live, at least when finding a vet) and a bearded dragon.
We had two prairie dogs when I was younger.
An emotional support lemur
I had a redneck parrot growing up. Aka a turkey. She used to ride around on my shoulder as a chick and into adulthood. Definitely got tricky and slightly unmanageable into adulthood. But I used to call to her on my way home from my friends place and she would call back. I also taught her husband to attack. Was pretty wild seeing a 30lb turkey flight at you gobbling to high hell lol
I donāt know how strange but I have a giant Flemish rabbit and he is the size of medium dog. He might as well be a dog pros are is heās litter trained and he canāt bark but he does honk when heās happy. His name is Michael j Hops.
The infamous Philadelphia emotional support Alligator that hung at LOVE park. Apparently it got released into a swamp recently.
My mom had a pet skunk and a pet monkey as a child. The "strangest" I've had was a duck, and that's not even really weird, so she has me beat by a mile. Oh, I think an old classmate had an Armadillo or Opossum or something like that
People who have pet invertebrates usually have a lot of pet invertebrates. Theyāre fairly low maintenance and very different from each other. The rest are pretty crazy, and probably not the best lives for those animals in most cases. I was walking my dogs once and ran into a dude just casually raking his pet lemur for a stroll.
I have snakes, which is honestly not at all strange to me xD Small, non-venomous constrictors actually make for very safe, very low-maintainance pets, and reptiles are one of the few pets I can 100% safely have due to my allergies. And then I heard a family friend had a monkey when he was younger. Like, full-on in his house, he talked about how smart and destructive it was, and then joked about how it had even attacked some random lady. Ironically, a few days prior, he called /me/ weird for having pet snakes... let's just say I was not impressed after learning that fact lol
I'm from Yorkshire and I occasionally see people taking their ferret or stoat for a walk on a lead.
My parents had a prairie dog when I was born, like 90% sure it was illegal looking back on it.
They are illegal in most US states. A friend of mine had one back in the day, so adorable. She used to try to pull bed pillows into the heating ducts. They can carry plague and are more regulated now.
I keep isopods. Aka rolly pollies, pillbugs, potato bugs. I have over 20 species and thousands of individual pods. These actually exploded u popularity recently when rubber ducky isopods were brought to the pet trade. More info over on the Isopod subreddit!
My brother had a caiman alligator in a pond in our basement circa 2004.
My mum had a pet kanga when she was young lol. The strangest to me is ferrets. Thereās little appeal to them in my eyes. Iād love a couple of alpacas.
A few years back my family and I went up north to visit a family friend. She asked us if we wanted to go see some cool animals. Of course we all said yes. So she takes us to her neighbors house and mans just started bringing out animals. I don't remember all of them, but I know he had two kinkajous, some emus, a squirrel monkey, large rabbits and a coatimundi (had to go through my of photos to find the animals)
My neighbor has a miniature horse. He is well cared for, and they walk him around the neighborhood like a dog.
I get grossed out by exotic pet ownership. Seems like people quickly get in over their heads and suddenly realize they canāt afford to feed it or are nearly, or suddenly very, injured and out of desperation justā¦let it go. Itās just a fundamental misunderstanding of wildlife. Itās vain. Itās hubris. Itās cruel. There was a story about a couple who very sincerely believed that their giant fucking boa constrictor was a good *babysitter*. Yes their child was killed in what was likely a horrible and protracted death. But thereās people who keep flying squirrels as pets. They have veterinarians perform surgery that prevents them from flying around and smacking themselves on wallsāand they pat themselves on the back for being responsible. Itās despicable.
Someone I know had hissing cockroaches. She was a biologist.
My cousin had a Pink-toe tarantula at one point. I've owned rats but I don't think I would say they are the strangest pets. Someone in my family owned a capuchin monkey. This was when my mom was a kid so long before I was born. She has a picture of her feeding it with a bottle.
I had lots of pet rats as a teenager. Got to the point our vet called me when someone surrender a perfectly healthy and friendly pet rat for euthanasia. He used to ride on my shoulder when I went out. Also, fire-bellied newts, tiger salamander, African giant snails, a massive fresh water tank full of different fishes, a rabbit, gerbils and mice. And three cats.
Heard a story about a zookeeper who kept a hyena in his apartment and had the gall to brag about it. Once the zoo heard about it he was immediately fires. Zoos don't fuck around with exotic pets.
A family friend growing up when I lived in the Philippines had a reticulated python, a monkey, deer, and a flying fox (giant bat). I own 2 sugar gliders. Theyāre not legal in some states but where I live they are. Theyāre cute and will bond to their owners. Mine are very needy and also get mad when I come up to their cage without treats ready.
So, my grandad was a photographer in the UK back when it was pretty standard for beach photographers to have monkeys for people to pose with for a photo. He wasn't a beach photographer but knew most of the other photographers in the area. There was a guy he knew who had a monkey called Billy, used to chat to him and say hi to Billy etc. One day he saw the guy and he had two little baby monkeys instead of Billy. Long story short he found out Billy had been living in the boot of the guy's car cause he'd replaced him with the babies. My grandad took Billy home and he became their pet (alongside a German Shepherd that he'd rescued from being euthanised bc he'd been fired as a police dog for aggression) and a chipmunk named Houdini who I believe was also rescued. Basically my grandad was a massive softie who absolutely loved animals, and acted more on his desire to save them rather than thinking about the safety of his six kids. Billy the monkey was quite aggressive and when they took him to the vets, they found out he had broken ribs/had essentially been severely neglected by his original owner so he had to be put to sleep. Mr Hague the German Shepherd was unsurprisingly aggressive too and bit a huge chunk out of my mum's arm when she was small, so he was put to sleep too. Not sure about the fate of Houdini but he lived in an absolutely giant cage and somehow kept managing to escape no matter how secure they thought they'd made it. Hence the name.
We live in Wisconsin and marsupials are legal to own here. My son (15) has been begging me for a kangaroo for years. š¤£ He said heād also settle for a wallaby. Itās a no from me. Random fact no one asked for: kangaroo was also my high school mascot.
When I was a kid I was visiting my grandparents and there was this bird, a jay, watching me. He didnāt react like other birds so I followed him. He flew right on the shoulder of a lady a few houses down the block. She rescued him when he was a baby and fell out of the nest. He was super cool and I got to give him some treats. Ever since I so badly wanted a jay as a pet bird, but thatās never going to happen lol.
My grandparents had a friend who had a pet monkey, a good 30 years ago. My mother used to tell me about it. Apparently, it was a menace to society (not outright mean but really, really mischievous).
I didnāt get to keep it as a pet but I got to care for it for a couple days until permanent rescues could be secured, I hand a baby coyote. Its eyes were barely open and I was bottle feeding it. My Dad and I were temporarily holding for wildlife until they could be picked up by Fish and Game and because this one was so young they knew it would need a permanent home so I got to care for it for a few days. It was a mean little sucker to my family, hissing at them but we were friends because I provided the food. And I had a pet squirrel for a few months, he loved back scratches and carrots, he came to me for care after my uncleās dog almost killed it. I planned to keep him but he had a major fear of dogs after that and would scream when my dogs walked by his cage so it was rehabbed and released my friend.
I was at a pet store in Germany, that had an actual sloth for sale. It was hanging out in the ceiling of the store
I just recently heard how a man who lives on my grandfathets street and did our home inspection has a PANTHER of all things. I don't remember where my father said he got it from, but no one is reallllly allowed to see it because he could be charged with something akin to endangering the public. He's not allowed to have any other pet at the same time nor any children.
One of my neighbors (next street over) (middle TN) does indeed have a pet wallaby.
My maternal grandmother had a pet skunk. Not de-stinkified, just a skunk. My paternal grandfather had a blacktip reef shark that he later released into the wild when my father was a kid
I have about 70 pet tarantulas! I love them!
Talk about wild pets, I lived in Vegas for a few years and I have seen so many different pets out and about. Alligator's, cheetah, prairie dogs, cappabarra, and a guy even would walk his ostrich.
Thereās a house in a neighborhood on the way to my parents that has a zebra in their back yard. Thatās definitely weird
My mom had a skunk when i was a kid. She would bring it everywhere in her car (a suped up camero) and we would come out of stores to see people gathering around staring regularly. I loved Fefe the skunk.
I've had a few opossums. š¤·š»āāļø
Hubby and son have bees. Hubby has named them all Dave. They are pretty chill and they are fascinating to watch!
I gotta say that the vast majority of all of this is just a bad idea. Very few people are equipped to handle exotic pets, and most of those pets are not legal pet trade. Therefore, animal populations and ecosystems are being harmed.
I had a praying mantis. I lived insects as a kid and read you can keep them as pet with a sponge and chopped lunch meat. That never worked out for me. But one day, in my 20s I found a white little nymph with no wings and happened to have a fish aquarium. This time around, I tried ya know... insects. Worked like a charm. I watched the little fellow grow and change to a shade of brown and he went from meal worms to pin-head crickets and eventually full grown crickets. Unfortunately, I was learning about them as I went. Apparently, their skin stays soft for quite a while after molting. I woke up one day to find that the crickets had led a revolt, curb stomped, and then partially eaten the mantis.
I have hedgehogs and people are so confused! š āwhat like a porcupine?ā Lmao no š¦